BUILD Mini-ITX C226 Haswell build

[Richman]

http://www.kingston.com/us/support/technical/valueram.aspx?questionid=148&afmid=41239

Buffering has nothing to do with ECC.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

Oh thanks, it all instantly came back to me. I am amazed at how much I learned and then forgot. The one thing I remember from a long time ago was:
1. There is no such thing as unregistered memory
2. There is no such thing buffered memory.
Unregistered memory is technically called Unbuffered and Buffered memory is technically called Registered and is sometime wrongfully marketed as Unregistered or Buffered.
I forgot about some of these other dete's.

 

[ECCfrenaslover]

I've ordered the following parts for my first FreeNAS build...

CPU: Intel i3-4130
PSU: SeaSonic SSR-360GP
HDD: 6x 3TB Western Digital Red (configured in RAIDZ2)
RAM: Kingston 16GB ValueRAM 1333 MHz ECC CL9
Case: Fractal Design Node 304
Mobo: ASRock E3C226D2I LGA 1150 Mini-ITX

So this ASRock mobo... there is also a C224 variant (supposedly) but I couldn't find it for sale anywhere. Even this variant is only at a couple of non-mainstream sites (www.superbiiz.com is where I found it). Basically, it's the only mITX Haswell board with ECC that I could find, period. On paper, it's almost an exact clone of the Supermicro X10SLM+-F, just shrunk down. Only 2 RAM slots, but I won't need more than 16 GB of RAM for my system... since I'm filling up the case and board SATA slots (yes, there are actually 6 SATAIII ports on this board) I won't need any expansion card either.

So the obvious risk is that I haven't found a single case of this board being used for FreeNAS... but it does list FreeBSD 9.1 on the list of compatible OS's, and the Intel GigE chipsets have worked for other builds. So I'll be the guinea pig! But I figured there might be some interest out there with regard to a Haswell mITX board. It's a little pricier, but I decided it was worth it to have a smaller system instead of just another mid tower (let's be honest... uATX cases aren't really all that small).

Brother, thanks for being brave to go into the mini itx world. Just ordered the same components for my u-nas 8 bay server. Had non ecc/non server grade stuff in it and ran pretty good with no issues but I value my data more than my money. Can't wait to get it. Will post pics when complete. Great forum with lots of unique personalities.

 

[memhog]

It is terrific you took this step and that all is working well.

I noticed that you did not mention any cpu cooler/fan.
Was that something you added later or does the CPU run cool enough in this chassis that it isn't necessary?

After looking at the spec sheet for the ASRock E3C226D21 I noticed that it
did not certify any 8GB ECC memory (at any speed). Did you check with ASRock before choosing Kingston? Did they mention anyone else's memory that they are certifying (Or a reason that no 8GB ECC DIMM is listed)?

Grateful for all the analysis, work and blogging you have been offering.

 

[Sir.Robin]

Here's a nice looking lian-li case:

http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-q35/

 

[Chris Black]

I've ordered the following parts for my first FreeNAS build...

CPU: Intel i3-4130
PSU: SeaSonic SSR-360GP
HDD: 6x 3TB Western Digital Red (configured in RAIDZ2)
RAM: Kingston 16GB ValueRAM 1333 MHz ECC CL9
Case: Fractal Design Node 304
Mobo: ASRock E3C226D2I LGA 1150 Mini-ITX

So this ASRock mobo... there is also a C224 variant (supposedly) but I couldn't find it for sale anywhere. Even this variant is only at a couple of non-mainstream sites (www.superbiiz.com is where I found it). Basically, it's the only mITX Haswell board with ECC that I could find, period. On paper, it's almost an exact clone of the Supermicro X10SLM+-F, just shrunk down. Only 2 RAM slots, but I won't need more than 16 GB of RAM for my system... since I'm filling up the case and board SATA slots (yes, there are actually 6 SATAIII ports on this board) I won't need any expansion card either.

So the obvious risk is that I haven't found a single case of this board being used for FreeNAS... but it does list FreeBSD 9.1 on the list of compatible OS's, and the Intel GigE chipsets have worked for other builds. So I'll be the guinea pig! But I figured there might be some interest out there with regard to a Haswell mITX board. It's a little pricier, but I decided it was worth it to have a smaller system instead of just another mid tower (let's be honest... uATX cases aren't really all that small).

Where did you buy your motherboard?

 

[djk29a]

I got my C224 version of the board from Newegg actually. It's at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157466

Speaking of which, anyone else confused why there's a 1.70 version of the BIOS listed for the C226 motherboard but not the C224 one? I haven't tried to flash to the C226 BIOS given I'm on the C224 one but supposedly the UEFI BIOS is capable of detecting if the BIOS image works before trying to flash.

Brother, thanks for being brave to go into the mini itx world. Just ordered the same components for my u-nas 8 bay server. Had non ecc/non server grade stuff in it and ran pretty good with no issues but I value my data more than my money. Can't wait to get it. Will post pics when complete. Great forum with lots of unique personalities.

Haha, you're building the same components as me then in the same case. Hopefully you picked a good PSU to go with it (you can use a 1U PSU with a custom bracket or a so-called mini ITX PSU too). Let me know if you have the same problems I do because I need another data point. You will probably hate trying to mount that board in that case - I burned out two motherboards before this one in incidents related to having such an awkward mounting space. I have pictures of the build at http://imgur.com/a/jXlPq

Be EXTREMELY careful about which heatsink fan you use in that case - I found only one that would work and it's some Rosewill low profile CPU cooler for $12.

After looking at the spec sheet for the ASRock E3C226D21 I noticed that it
did not certify any 8GB ECC memory (at any speed). Did you check with ASRock before choosing Kingston? Did they mention anyone else's memory that they are certifying (Or a reason that no 8GB ECC DIMM is listed)?

I'm running on a Samsung set of 8GB UDIMMs that I ran for a year now on my Sandy Bridge Xeon desktop and don't know the exact chip layout off the top of my head, but 8GB UDIMMs are well supported if you use the reference Intel spec probably when building a C224/C226 motherboard of any sort, but I have a vote of confidence for 8GB Kingston UDIMMs. The Intel board I have explicitly listed that Samsung UDIMM set for support as well as several Kingston ones.

 

[ECCfrenaslover]

djk29a,

Brother, I went with the same config as yours since yours is working. Why replicate the headache?? My big headache right now is flashing that M1015 to IT mode. What a pain!!! I am stuck at the C prompt (usb formatted properly and with files needed to flash).

As for the PSU, I have the APU1ATX40p8 which is a 400 watt unit. Very quiet and cheap. My set up is running already but with non server grade moBo and RaM. When I got the part, I was not sure of the OS. I later decided to go for Freenas and doing a lot of reading here, I found your postings after learning to go with server grade parts if you want to use Freenas' ZFS capabilities.

As for the heatsink/cooler fan, I have one and fits very well but tight. Thanks for the pictures. What adapter did you end up with? Is it a M1015?

 

[djk29a]

I have an older HBA than the M1015 (the old Intel SASUC8 / LSI model that most people have stopped used) and flashed that years ago. Don't worry about the M1015 though, people have been using that for a good while now and that should be fine for the machine. There's no painless way to flash these HBAs after all these years, but the good news is that if you do it once you'll be fine for a long time. I'm not getting an M1015 until I upgrade all my drives to 4TB+ drives, and that will probably be in two years or so when hopefully they drop to <$100 USD per drive.

 

[ECCfrenaslover]

Count me in for when those 4TB drop <100 green ones. I am not waiting that long. I have a bonus coming in and that should help me buy my second U-Nas and the rest of the parts along with drives. I finally got to flash the LSI unit. Took a bit of finagling with the code but it is running. I also got all my server grade parts (mobo/Ram) plus ECC supporting CPU. I am all good and set now. I am glad I found your post. That AsRock mobo is sure is a nice one.

Here is a shot of the screen that gave me smiles!

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[ECCfrenaslover]

How many posts do I need so the pics can show up?

 

[cyberjock]

No idea.. its broken for me and I'm an admin :P

 

[ECCfrenaslover]

weird!
this is the link

 

[ECCfrenaslover]

got another m1015 on the way!

 

[cyberjock]

You can always make your own thread since this thread is C226 stuff and we are dealing with the M1015.

 

[clicq]

I've ordered the following parts for my first FreeNAS build...

CPU: Intel i3-4130
PSU: SeaSonic SSR-360GP
HDD: 6x 3TB Western Digital Red (configured in RAIDZ2)
RAM: Kingston 16GB ValueRAM 1333 MHz ECC CL9
Case: Fractal Design Node 304
Mobo: ASRock E3C226D2I LGA 1150 Mini-ITX

I just wanted to join the thread and say thanks for posting this - I just successfully built my first FreeNAS build using the mobo discussed in this thread (ASRock E3C226D2I) and the same Intel i3-4130.

I'm using 16 GB (2x8GB) of Crucial DDR3-1333 mhz ECC RAM, which, despite not being on the motherboard compatibility list, seems to work fine.

I went with a 550W Silverstone ST55F-G power supply and the associated short cable set. It's probably overkill (the_tox's 360W PS is probably plenty), but it was the least expensive, short PS with fully modular cables that I could find at the time.

For my case, I went with a BitFenix Phenom - I actually wanted the Node 304, but it was more expensive at the time. The BitFenix is larger than I actually wanted, but it does give me a lot of room to work with inside.

Finally, I just got 4x 3TB Toshiba drives that were on sale, configured in RAIDZ1 (I know it should ideally be 5 drives, but...).

So here's a question about this mobo - I flashed the BIOS to the latest (1.70) (via IPMI, which, not having had it on a computer before, is really nice!), and I can see that ECC is enabled, but how will I be notified if there are any errors? Will something show up in the FreeNAS log/console, do I need to check the BIOS, is it something that will be event log viewable from the IPMI interface (seems like it's only voltage/temp/fan sesors though)?

I have a Kill a Watt, so I'll grab some numbers this weekend and maybe grab some pics of my build.

 

[Richman]

For my case, I went with a BitFenix Phenom - I actually wanted the Node 304, but it was more expensive at the time. The BitFenix is larger than I actually wanted, but it does give me a lot of room to work with inside.

Nice build. THat case doesn't have toolsess sides to access the HDD's does it?

So here's a question about this mobo - I flashed the BIOS to the latest (1.70) (via IPMI, which, not having had it on a computer before, is really nice!), and I can see that ECC is enabled, but how will I be notified if there are any errors? Will something show up in the FreeNAS log/console, do I need to check the BIOS, is it something that will be event log viewable from the IPMI interface (seems like it's only voltage/temp/fan sesors though)?

I thought you could set up FreeNAS to email you on error ..... at least disk error, but sound like you talking ECC error since you asked that right after mentioning ECC. I am not sure ECC errors need to be reported in real time to say, an andim's email since ECC handles all errors with the exception of a rare type that it couldn't, it should halt the system. At least this is what I have read in various threads. I am pretty sure it does log them though so that you can review what has happened with them later.

 

[clicq]

Nice build. THat case doesn't have toolsess sides to access the HDD's does it?

The side panels are held on with thumbscrews, and the hard drives are in plastic toolless caddies. Once you take off the side panel, you have unhindered access to the drives, so I guess it qualifies as toolless.

I thought you could set up FreeNAS to email you on error ..... at least disk error, but sound like you talking ECC error since you asked that right after mentioning ECC. I am not sure ECC errors need to be reported in real time to say, an andim's email since ECC handles all errors with the exception of a rare type that it couldn't, it should halt the system. At least this is what I have read in various threads. I am pretty sure it does log them though so that you can review what has happened with them later.

I was referring to ECC memory errors. I am just concerned that, in the case of a memory module going bad, will I know about it so I can replace it?


EDIT: Some Kill-a-watt power numbers

Server booted and idle (this is with all 4 drives): 51 W
Copying files via Samba (I have compression enabled): ~64W
Transcoding with Plex: ~80W
Transcoding + file copy: ~85W
ZFS scrub: ~67W

 

[Richman]

Somewhere I remember talk about ECC not really going bad to where it will cause anything bad. If it "goes bad" it still can't cause corrupted data. It may just start having to correct a lot more errors and probably slow down the system a little and then when you check logs, you will know there is a higher rate than usual.

 

[cyberjock]

In the event ECC RAM goes bad every system I've worked on either corrected it(with an error) or if it was uncorrectable it resulted in an immediate system halt.

 

[ECCfrenaslover]

How about you make your own thread since this thread is C226 stuff and we are dealing with M1015?

Sorry about that brother! I was just too excited that I got that stupid LSI card to get flashed!

Good for you Tox! Is there a fan on the back side of that case? The link you posted on newegg, they do not show the back side....

So I take it that the flashing to 1.70 BIOS was painless? Did you remove all the drives and flash the BIOS? I might try it this weekend....